Having Disability Service departments embrace disability as fluid also helps shift disability from being perceived as a harmful derivation from the norm and shifts disability to being perceived in higher education as a form of diversity. When this culture shift is picked up by broader campuses it can mitigate the amount of time students spend considering if they are 'disabled enough' to receive accommodations.

How Viewing Disability as Fluid can Change Student Views

Having disability services embrace disability fluidity is important since disability services offices set the tone for how disability is understood by the campus more broadly.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

An example of how we can improve disability services in academia to crip the accommodation process by viewing disability as fluid comes from a 2017 case study Kroger and Kraus did of the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona used guidelines from the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and implemented these guidelines into their process by instead of having students just present medical information and be given a set of accommodations students discussed with staff the disability barriers they faced. Students were able to edit and adjust accommodations throughout the semester based on their needs. 

Example: Disability Services at the University of Arizona

Abrams, E. J., Floyd, C. E., & Abes, E. S. (2024). Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education. Disability Studies Quarterly, 43(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v43i4.8270

Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education

Why is it important to focus on Disability Services?

Applying crip authenticity in the classroom calls on professors to approach accessibility from a perspective of open and ongoing dialogue with students rather than having students submit medical documentation once a semester and get a prescriptive set of accommodations. Crip authenticity calls on accessibility to be a dynamic process that makes space for the fluid nature of disability. Dialogue and narrative-based inquiries - like those shown at the University of Arizona's accommodation system - shift the focus of accommodations to students' own testimony to changing needs rather than focusing on whether access specialists and professors perceive a student as disabled. 

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